Fugitive: The Curious Case of Carlos Ghosn (2022) User Reviews

A documentary seriously lacking in facts

[samnaji-15383 · 5/10 · 27 October 2022]

It is an extraordinary story. A CEO who has been arrested and charged but not yet convicted of embezzlement, smuggles himself out of Japan, via a corporate jet, by hiding in a big box. Its stuff out of a novel.

It is a well-made documentary but given most documentaries made today are pretty good anyway, to be exceptional it needs to give the viewer as many facts and let them decide on the conclusions. The problem with this film is that I found it wanting in facts.

We are told the rot set in when Ghosn was informed of 3 employees at Renault who leaked trade secrets on electric cars to the Chinese. So, Ghosn sacked them. Only then it was divulged the 3 employees were innocent and the whole thing was made up. People were questioning Ghosn's integrity. The way I saw it - who was the dude who made up the lies? Why was not the investigation about the source of the lie? Was Ghosn part of the conspiracy? Where was the evidence to support this if that was the case? The documentary had fewer answers than we needed. It was all up in the air with all the wrong question asked.

Ghosn than got in hot water because of his high salary (and a very lavish party he threw), but again, did he break the law? It may not be ethical but what he was doing was not illegal. So jealously plays a large part in his downfall. Ofcourse, the people seeing green could not get over the fact they were still in a job because of Ghosn, not inspite of him. This was the man who turned around a huge loss-making company into a profitable one. The fact he did it twice, for Renault and Nissan, says a lot about Ghosn business prowess and intelligence. Then again, given we are talking about the French and Japanese psyche, that could go in some way to explain why he was hated. Being of Arab origin, he just wasn't one of "us". To its credit the documentary address this.

The biggest issue I had was the lack of evidence presented about Ghosn's presumed embezzlement or possible tax avoidance. No facts were supplied. We were just told the Renault business set up numerous subsidiary companies, but we are also told other car manufactures do the same, so I am not sure why this was a big deal then? It was through these subsidiaries that Ghosn accumulated wealth, but no details were supplied on how the alleged embezzlement operated, how much was siphoned and who else was implicated?

I came away knowing less about Ghosn's charges than I did going into it. The documentary slants on the side of presumed innocence which given the absolute lack of evidence against the man, is the only position to take.

The only fact I came away with is the 99% conviction rate of people arrested in Japan and that goes to explain why Ghosn fled.

A curious case indeed

[roxlerookie · 6/10 · 30 October 2022]

When I was in business school, the man was a legend.

This documentary portrays a man being credited for making Renault and Nissan literal dozens of billions, in cash. We're talking financial results here, not equity market valuation.

Then we see how power corrupts the man. When going back to France to head Renault, lying about giving up the reins of Nissan, and holding on to them instead. How he lived on a plane between the two HQs. How he surrounded himself with yes men. How his hair grew, his glasses disappeared, his Sarkozy style shoes made him taller, his suits got nicer, his wife got dumped, his own image PR went on overdrive, how he lost touch with his mission, his people, and reality. The unnecessarily long segment on the galerie des glaces in Versailles was so absurd, it's hard to feel sorry for the guy.

If you've read a biography of a dictator, you've read them all. Humans aren't wired to have that much power. There's a fair amount of Putin in his image propaganda, a lot of Stalin in his entourage of yes men.

As pretty much always, follow the money. He made the companies billions in cash in the bank. Because France and because Japan, his compensation remained hidden for many years. Then people had a wtf moment when they found out, to which ghosn replied "ford CEO makes 4x". So using a complex and hidden structure of companies, he bought real estate in holiday destinations, and embezzled funds. If Renault entities buy jewelry and houses in Rio I'd bet my money on embezzlement.

The Japanese are portrayed as joyful idiots until one morning the whole system conspires to throw him in jail without due process. Apparently the absence of due process in Japan is called due process.

I wish there had been more quantitative and analytical work done. Pie charts, graphs. Cash created over his tenure, cash he got, cash he allegedly embezzled. Because ultimately this documentary is story telling, often times in a strange format, with lots of valuable interviews, but virtually no analysis or research.

This is about greed, I wish it had been quantified more.

Interesting but lacking

[thesuf · 6/10 · 27 October 2022]

This is a very interesting documentary. Sadly lacks in details on his life before Nissan, and the corporate wrongdoings that eventually brought him down. Probably the filmmakers were restricted legally with what they could present in this film, which is understandable (presumed innocent until proven guilty). It does make for good viewing though. I would've like to hear more about the corporate culture that he had created which likely led to a lot of corruption internally within the company, or even allowed Carlos Ghosn to abuse his position in both Nissan and Renault. Obviously he made a lot of enemies during his time leading both companies and it would've been interesting to explore who they were and how he crossed them as well.

It left me with so many unanswered questions

[naghamkassis · 7/10 · 3 November 2022]

It is a good documentary that introduces new parts of Carlos Ghosn's life we didn't know about.

A genuis Lebanese who made his way up to two of the most successful automotive companies in the world.

However, it lacked lots and lots of facts and details that would make the story more thrilling.

So many unanswered questions and missing parts of the puzzle. I think the writers and producers should have digged deeper and maybe made it as a small series instead of documentary and provided the viewers with additonal information on many incidents mentioned lightly in the documentary such as the renauld employees sacking.

But overall, it is nice to watch.

The rise and fall of Carlos Ghosn covered in a rushed way

[paul-allaer · 6/10 · 13 November 2022]

As "Fugitive: The Curious Case of Carlos Ghosn" (2022 release; 95 min) opens, the CEO of Renault and Nissan is fleeing Japan for his home country of Lebanon in 2019. We then go back to 1996, with Renault is serious financial trouble, and its then CEO picking Ghosn (pronounced "Gone") to come in and clean things up. In 1999, Renault buys a controlling stake in Nissan, another car manufacturer in financial dire straits, and Ghosn is dispatched to become Nissan's CEO... At this point we are 15 min into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is only the second feature-length documentary of director Lucy Blakstad, whom I had not heard of before. Here Blakstad brings us a 2-in-1: in the first hour, we witness the meteoric rise of Ghosn, resurrecting both Renault and Nissan by ruthlessly cutting costs and jobs where needed, and earning him the nickname the "Cost Killer" but later also "Mr. Fix-It" for turning around the financial fortunes of both companies. In the last half hour we witness the fall, when Ghosn is arrested by Japanese police in 2018 for (alleged) financial improprieties, just ahead of a planned full-blown merger between Renault and Nissan. We learn along the way that, once arrested, the conviction rate in Japanese courts is 99%. That doesn't sound normal to me. Did Ghosn commit financial crimes? I have no idea. This documentary feels a little rushed, to be honest. A lot of material is covered in just an hour and a half, and I wished that the film makers had gone a little deeper. The big mystery is how a once well-respected CEO comes crashing down for alleged financial crimes. This documentary doesn't explain it.

"Fury: The Curious Case of Carlos Ghosn" recently started streaming on Netflix, which recommended it to me based on my viewing habits. The documentary isn't bad but it feels like a missed opportunity, focusing on Ghosn's rise and then his improbable escape from Japan, but skipping a lot of details why he was arrested in the first place. Of course don't take my word for it, so I'd suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Is he guilty?

[jc1305us · 7/10 · 25 March 2023]

We just do t know, and unfortunately, this documentary doesn't give us a whole lot of information about his alleged crimes to make up our minds. What we are told, is that Carlos Ghson is considered a brilliant businessman, first rising up the ranks of Renault, where he is the chosen successor to its ceo, to the ceo of Japanese car giant Nissan, when Renault and Nissan join forces.

Turning around both companies by cutting costs and getting results, Ghson is celebrated as a rock star in Japan, and in the business world. But pride goes before a fall, and before long, Ghson starts believing his own press. He becomes increasingly reliant on hangers on, and loses touch with the real world. In an even bigger show of hubris, he takes the reins of both Nissan and Renault at the same time. Unheard of in the business world, which requires him to be in Japan or France at virtually the same time. Unfortunately, this is where the film falls a bit flat. We are told that Japanese regulators arrest Ghson for embezzling company funds. The film talks of real estate deals in Rio, Lebanon, and NY, and a large party thrown by Ghson at the palace of Versailles, but we dont know, and are not told what is actually illegal about this. Ghson, in voice over even says that the real estate holdings were signed off on by the respective companies!

Ghson, in prison in Japan, where 99% of arrestees are convicted, is convinced he'd never get a fair trial devises a plan that, in retrospect, is genius in its simplicity. Out on bail, Ghson is smuggled out of the country in music cases, which amazingly are not x rayed by airport security!

An interesting film, that would have been better served delving more into the alleged crimes of Mr. Ghson, but as it stands, was an interesting watch.

Hubris meets the Old Guards

[keikoyoshikawa · 7/10 · 18 April 2023]

There's no doubt that Carlos Ghosn was a brilliant CEO. I do love an underdog story and underdogs. In many ways Ghosn was always the underdog - an outsider when he was with Renault and still an outsider when he was with Nissan. And of course he would always be an outsider in Japan, regardless of how successful he was. In France he was able to overcome the prejudice; but in Japan it was a completely different context.

So I think all that brilliance and success went to his head. And therefore he either did not understand the Japanese business culture or he disastrously refused to acknowledge that there would be knives out to get him eventually. He needed to build relationships and allies, but he failed utterly. With only enemies, it was only a matter of time before his unethical conducts would be used against him once he outlived his usefulness.

That's the tragedy of Carlos Ghosn. Hubris. Alone and thus vulnerable. Once he became too dangerous to the status quo, the Old Guards, with the help of the archaic and biased Japanese legal system, used his own greed to bring him down. A more wile person would have seen that coming; in many ways this is a classic Shakespearean plot, a tragic figure brought down by his enemies and his own failings.

This documentary alone does not give you all the contexts. But when coupled with other reliable sources, it does give you quite a good amount of details of the man and what happened. Was Ghosn treated badly? Yes. But his missteps and faults helped brought about his own end. He used people, and in the end he got used.

Good Documentary

[hasnainfarid · 7/10 · 30 March 2024]

Good Documentary, it shows that the power ruins you. He definitely had talent, but as its said. Its easy to get the status but hardest to maintain it. He did many mistakes which were ethically incorrect, but there was no major reason to jail him. I had quite high thoughts of Japan and its judicial system but now I am skeptical.

Good Documentary, it shows that the power ruins you. He definitely had talent, but as its said. Its easy to get the status but hardest to maintain it. He did many mistakes which were ethically incorrect, but there was no major reason to jail him. I had quite high thoughts of Japan and its judicial system but now I am skeptical.

One sided

[prolead · 5/10 · 5 November 2022]

The movie is clearly one sided against Carlos Ghosn. The Japanese executives conveniently try to shift the blame on Carlos for their lack of oversight and incompetence. There is no excuse for being complacent. You were paid to do your job, you can't claim ignorance later when you sighed on a document allowing the things you blame somebody of your embezzlement later. All the executives should have been arrested for the same reason Carlos went to jail for. I am glad he escaped the way he did. People like Ghosn are rare and undoubtedly brilliant. I think he deserved every penny he made. He turned around a loss making company into a profitable one and they have the nerve to blame him for anting a piece of the pie.

Another great documentary

[karinahatem · 8/10 · 28 October 2022]

I watched a few documentaries and interviews about Carlos Ghoson, and this one is one of the best. Everything was well made, the chronological events till the date of Carlos's arrest, the interviews combined with the great music. What I really liked about this one, is that they managed to show the rise and fall of Carlos, managed to get many people, and most importantly is was objective, by showing both sides of the story, and the people who talked either highly or negatively of him. Am sure that Carlos is not an angel, and it was obvious that he didn't want to let go of Nissan control, still the Japanese story doesn't add up. Interesting enough that Carlos has declined to be interviewed.

Great documentary.

Wasting time watch this so Called Documentary

[ahmadjab-27035 · 2/10 · 6 May 2023]

No thriller at ALL!!! Just lazy Directing Poor in Research and Analysis and incomplete

Really? Ghosn's housekeeper show you photos about the way he eats , dress... Ghosn's father was a murderer !!!!!! Why the hell is it relevant to his case ?????

Was Ghosn a hero for rescuing Nissan or a villain by exercising total control and lining his own pockets? The controversy in this case was amplified by two opposite views in the media: while the Japanese press portrayed Ghosn as a greedy autocrat,

Makes me feel Renault and Nissan have contributed in make this movie and put all the Blame on Carlos.

BBC documentary (Carlos Ghosn: The Last Flight) did much work giving more insight of all the problems. More better watching this one.

Missing: Was Ghosn guilty or not?

[bryan-750-276185 · 5/10 · 6 September 2023]

Missing from this documentary is, after all the interviews with the grieving family and employees: is Carlos Ghosn guilty or not? The family, a few ex employees, and some of the journalists, focus on their view of the harshness of Japanese legal system. But they never really say that Ghosn was innocent of the charges. My takeaway is that he definitely did something wrong and that ego and greed got the better of him.

The producers threw in a few token interviews with Nissan and Japanese government officials but if I did not know better, I'd say this Netflix piece was funded by the "Carlos Ghosn got a raw deal" foundation.

''freee' eeee' carlos ghosn''...

[ops-52535 · 8/10 · 27 October 2022]

With the nelson mandela soundtrack lingers my mind when watching this lebanese/french /jap production of a industrial leader on the size of and emperor at least in the car industry, a mogul without preference, leading an alliance of car manufacturers in a tsunamiwave motion of success and disaster...

its a production that use quite a bit curious methods to brand the subject, both in a positive and negative way.exactly what they aim is hard to say, but if you take the bait of corporate sensationalismic journalism then your banked like a makrell in a secret swiss bank account for sure...

its the story of a life as a business actor, its well made even though the prossecutional processes against mr gone aint over yet. He will be a prisoner of his home country for many years to come cause the interpol are still haunting him, or until the slow churning japanese justice system comes to a decision whether or not to trial him in the court system, we'll just have to wait and see, entertaining it was thinks the grumpy old man.

A fascinating story about a real Mr. Bean told in 4 minutes or so

[thejdrage · 5/10 · 8 July 2023]

This is the oddest fugitive story that's deserved a documentary I've ever watched. Not a total waste of time, but certainly not the best time spent.

Most of it was about Renault and Nissan. Better to say, Renault and Japan.

There was literally 2 lines, maybe three, about his family (wife or wives and children) - and how they were affected. We don't know how he's been since he became a fugitive.

It was 95% of what he did before the kerfuffle and then BOOM! He was a fugitive. The End.

I won't remember him or his story for ever long which is too bad. It could be an excellent example of the problems on so many levels of so many things!!

Would I watch it again knowing what I know now?

Probably not. Except he really does look like Mr. Bean and that part was fun. (I know that you might not think that is nice, but Mr. Bean is well-loved my millions, soooo.)

A "documentary" presumes Ghosn is guilty without evidence

[frizen_cy · 2/10 · 29 January 2024]

Most of the interviewees claimed that Ghosn is guilty, but not a single person of the whole crowd provides any evidence to proof such charge, neither did Japanese government by now.

This "documentary" does not tell you that Ghosn saved another Japanese company Mitsubishi, an infamous company which was cheating on critical test data and was dying, which is more or less a Mitsubishi group tradition.

Hearing the line from this "documentary" saying 'Japanese are organized, if they are organized, they are predictable' really made me laugh. So that is how Netflix define organized I assume.

Most of these people praised Ghosn as if he was a god when Ghosn rebuild first Renault, then a dying Japanese company and made it so successful, as well as when Ghosn treated they nicely. Then Renault and Nissan both made money, Ghosn got paid a lot, which I do not find it strange in any ways. You work hard, you deliver results, then you got paid for that. What is so unacceptable of that? Do you not working under similar evaluation systems? Do all Netflix employee got paid the same wage? Taking account of the three companies Ghosn has saved and how much jobs and value that creates, I personally think he was not paid enough for his work.

One of the Japanese said 'having a foreign CEO makes me feel like we lost a war and got invaded', that is exactly how Japanese ppl, especially the employees from Nissan and Mitsubishi would think. Then they are no longer happy after knowing Ghosn got paid a lot but they do not regardless of their 'hard work'.

As for the fun part that Ghosn declined the interview for this movie, other reviews have already told you that this movie is made to judge that Ghosn is guilty, it is one sided. Ghosn was able to save three companies and managed to escape from Japan, there is no way he is so dumb to say yes to this. Everything, good or bad, are highly possible to be used against himself by editing.

This "documentary" did not spend much time on is 'the Japanese judicial system has a conviction rate of 99% but the prosecutors have a very long investigative process and only send 37% of suspects to court'. Key words: "99% conviction rate", "long investigative process", "37% to court". That is how justice is delivered in Japan. At the point you are detained, you 99% are guilty even if you are falsely accused. They will make you admit by interrogating and blackmailing over and over, day and night, which is quite famous here in Japan.

More than 100 days of detention, been interrogated and threatened, no signs of trails, without solid evidence to proof him guilty. Is it even legal? Where is human rights they take so seriously?

The last thing, 'organized' does not equal to 'predictable', and definitely do not made it an excuse for not scanning such a large box at the airport.

Honestly this documentary made me side with Ghosn! What an amazing man.

[l-s-s-yarberry · 9/10 · 3 June 2023]

I felt that he was abused horribly by the Japanese "legal" system which is HIGHLY UNETHICAL and VERY ABUSIVE and if anything the greatest thing he is guilty of was being too good at his job. He dragged Nissan from the brink of destruction to profits of tens of billions and what did the Japanese do about it? They paid him a measly 8 million a year and arrested him for "corruption" bc he used the corporate jet and corporate apartments that he was permitted to without declaring it as "income" (which it wasn't BTW). If anything this documentary makes me want a caper with David Suchet as Ghosn!

I took one star off for the annoying ditz "actress" that served zero point IMO.